37.1 Preparing the Cluster for GroupWise

After you have set up your Microsoft cluster and become familiar with its functioning, as described in Section 35.0, Introduction to GroupWise 8 and Microsoft Clusters, complete the following tasks to prepare the cluster for your GroupWise system:

37.1.1 Creating GroupWise Resource Groups

Create the needed domain and post office resource groups in your Microsoft cluster (System Clustering Worksheet items 3 and 4), as planned in Section 36.2, Planning a New Clustered Domain and Section 36.3, Planning a New Clustered Post Office.

37.1.2 Creating Agent Service Resources

Within each GroupWise resource group, create the MTA or POA service resource (Agent Clustering Worksheet items 3 and 6), as planned in Planning the Agent Services.

37.1.3 Configuring Short Name Resolution

To ensure that GroupWise resource groups are always locatable on the network, configure the short name resolution methods that you want to rely on for your clustered GroupWise system (System Clustering Worksheet item 9), as planned in Section 36.7, Ensuring Successful Name Resolution for GroupWise Resource Groups.

After configuring your selected short name resolution methods, continue with the task you need to perform:

eDirectory

ConsoleOne uses Novell eDirectory to resolve the UNC path of a domain or post office directory into its network name in the cluster. For example, on the workstation where you run ConsoleOne, you need to map a drive to the location of a domain directory using the network name of the domain resource group so that ConsoleOne can access the domain database no matter which node in the cluster it is active on.

Hosts Files

Because each GroupWise resource group has been associated with a network name, you should add lines for the new network names to the \winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file as needed This should only be done on the administrator’s workstation.

The lines you add to a hosts file could look similar to the following example (all on one line, of course):

Syntax:
IP_address network_name.context

Remember that network_name represents the name of the virtual server, which remains unchanged regardless of which node is currently active.

Example:
172.16.5.81   gwcluster.novell.com

When specifying the lines in the hosts files, use System Clustering Worksheet item 7 or 8 for each IP_address and network_name where a domain or post office resides. Use System Clustering Worksheet item 3 for cluster. Use System Clustering Worksheet item 4 for context.

DNS

Because each GroupWise resource group has been associated with a virtual network name, you should add all your new network names to DNS.